of the day. This design is similar to the cooling effect you feel in the HMC quad dorms when the breeze is blowing down the corridor.” A few of the spaces—like the LAN computer servers and
the security office—are air conditioned. This is a challenge in projects with multiple small buildings and spotty need for air conditioning. “Normally, spot air conditioning would use a bunch of equipment because every small room would need a matching outdoor unit,” says Sweek. “We solved this by using a ‘multi- zone’ refrigerant system which has a refrigerant manifold so a single outdoor unit can be matched with several indoor units.” Now that the project is nearing its end—a formal opening
ceremony for the new visitor center is being planned for Dec. 7, 2010, the 69th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack—Sweek will be busy testing the lighting and the solar system. She will return again next summer after all systems have been operating fully to talk with building maintenance personnel about how well the systems are working. Sweek sees the new facility as a way to introduce sustainable
The renovated World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument visitor center now boasts a 50-kilowatt photovoltaic system which generates about 25 percent of the building’s annual energy consumption.
design to a diverse audience, especially older generations. “There are thousands of visitors everyday. To have it be a green
building and attract a wide variety of generations, especially those who served during World War II, is important. They will be able to see just how practical and efficient a sustainable building can be,” she says. Consumers are taking a little longer to fully embrace the sustainability movement, in part, Sweek believes, because the information being shared at every turn is a bit overwhelming. She says that she would take a different approach and introduce concepts more slowly, with simple ways that consumers can make gradual changes. Spreading the word about sustainable structures is something
Sweek is intent upon doing. The next career move for her is a focus on the existing building market, where she sees more technical challenges than in new facilities. “Corporations really get it,” she says. “If you make green engineering part of the decision-making process, it is a natural result that plans for new and existing buildings will be sustainable.”
TREASA SWEEK
S UMME R 2 0 1 0 H a r v e y Mu d d C o l l e g e
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